Spatial planning on county level in Estonia Peeter Muiste, Allar Padari, Hugo Roostalu

Planning types

1) national spatial plan, which is prepared for the entire territory of the state with the aim of defining the prospective development of the territory of the state and the settlement systems located therein in a generalised and strategic manner

2) county plan, which is prepared with the aim of defining the prospective development of the territory of a county in a generalised manner and determining the location of the principal infrastructure facilities;

3) comprehensive plan, which is prepared with the aim of determining the general directions in and conditions for the development of the territory of a rural municipality or city, and of setting out the bases for the preparation of detailed plans for areas;

4) detailed plan, which is prepared with the aim of establishing land use provisions and building provisions for cities and towns and for other areas and in other cases where detailed planning is mandatory.

Administrative organisation The Government of the Republic shall initiate the preparation of a national spatial plan and the Ministry of the Environment shall administer the preparation of the plan. A county governor or the Government of the Republic shall initiate and administer the preparation of a county plan. A local government shall initiate and administer the preparation of a comprehensive plans and detailed plans.

Law, rules, main regulation: 1) Planning Act (Parliament of Estonia, entered into force 1. January 2003) 2) County Government development plan 3) Municipality Government development plan

Spatial planning for promotion of bioenergy In forestry and energy sector development programmes on state level the general goals of promotion of bioenergy is pointed out, but the instruments of spatial planning are not included. Among such programmes should be mentioned: The general document for planning forestry activities is the Estonian Forestry Development Programme 2001–2010 Long-term Development Programme for the Estonian Fuel and Energy Sector up to year 2015 (2030) Long-term Development Programme of Promotion of Biomass and Bienergy year

In energy sector the GIS data is used for assessment of the potential of biofuel resources and it is done for the needs of certain companies (consumers of wood fuel as boiler-houses, designers of new co-generation plants, big forest owners as State Forest Management Centre, Eesti Energia etc.).

On the regional level (county or communes) in different development programmes (either general or specific areas, for example energy sector) the GIS data is used, but not spatial planning in carried out as there are no possibilities to influence the management of private forests or private agricultural lands.

In Estonian conditions one of the first attempts on regional level was the “Energy development plan for Põlva County” where by means of spatial planning optimal scenarios of bioenergy potentials were drawn up.

Goals of the study (May-Dec.2006): General goal - to create a self-supply and independent area based on local renewable resources Prognosis until 2020 Estimation of resources, environmental and social impacts, feasibility of utilization of local resources

Põlva county The area of the county is 2164 km 2 (which covers 7.7% of the territory of Estonia) The population is (12.9 % of the population of Estonia) Population density in county is 15.1 inhabitants per km 2 The city of Põlva is the center of the county

Initial data

the data about the fuel and electic energy consumption in the Põlva county the renewable energy resources of the county –Forest biomass –Herbaceous biomass –Hydroenergy –Wind energy

The fuel consumption in Põlva county by municipalities

Data about forests The availability and the quality of forest inventory data is different by ownership categories. The databaseabout state forests is administrated by the State Forest Management Centre (SFMC) and this inventory data is sufficiently complete (as it is presented by forest stands and includes information about site types, distribution by tree species and age classes, diameters, height etc., also forest management activities and different forest damages are reflected).

Only a part of private forests is described by fresh inventory data The digitalized information about forest management activities in private forests is missing. Due to the afforestation of abandoned agricultural lands the forest area has increased. For these corrections the remote sensing data about Estonian forests should be used

Wood fuel resources The total land area of Põlva county is ha, ha of it is forest land (state forests ha and private forests ha). In Põlva county the distribution of forest land by protection categories is following – protected forests ha, protection forests ha ja commercial forests ha * –Protected forests focus on protection of rare and other valuable objects and therefore in these forests commercial activities are prohibited. –In protection forests certain silvicultural activities are allowed by protection rules. –Only in commercial forest all silvicultural activities are allowed in accordance with Forest Act and other regulations.

Based on the initial forestry data the calculation of the potential yield of forests of Põlva county was carried out The calculation was based on the Estonian forest inventory data, functions of growth, algorithms of assortments and economical decisions Both the volumes of merchantable wood (logs, pulpwood, fuelwood) and harvesting residues were calculated Results were presented by municipalities

Potential yield of fuel wood, thd m 3

Potential of fuel wood from forest by municipalities, MWh

330 kV, 220 kV, 110 kV, 35kV, 6 kV and 0,4 kV power lines

Location of power lines in forest areas

The potential quantities of biomass from traces of different types of power lines in Põlva county for 3-year cleaning period

Agricultural biomass For modelling of agricultural residues and energy crops potential in model regions the following maps can be used:

Estonian digital base map

Agricultural biomass For modelling of agricultural residues and energy crops potential in model regions the following maps can be used: –Estonian digital base map –Estonian Nature Information System

Agricultural biomass For modelling of agricultural residues and energy crops potential in model regions the following maps can be used: –Estonian digital base map –Estonian Nature Information System –Digital soils map

Agricultural biomass For modelling of agricultural residues and energy crops potential in model regions the following maps can be used: –Estonian digital base map –Estonian Nature Information System –Digital soils map –Map layers from Agricultural Research Centre, Estonian Land Board, Estonian Agricultural Registers and Information Board (PRIA)

Agricultural biomass For modelling of agricultural residues and energy crops potential in model regions the following maps can be used: –Estonian digital base map –Estonian Nature Information System –Digital soils map –Map layers from Agricultural Research Centre, Estonian Land Board, Estonian Agricultural Registers and Information Board (PRIA) –The Data of the State Registry of Agricultural Data (this registry has not completed yet)

Agricultural land use

Mean soil quality on 100-point scale in Põlva rural municipalities

Mean available water capacity in a one-metre soil layer

Mean yield of barley on non- fertilized soil

Mean yield of barley if to use agronomically effective amount of fertilizers

Yield of straw

Abandoned arable land

Energy potential of abandoned agricultural land

Peat resources in Põlva county

Average wind speed, (h=10m)

Potential of renewable energy resources and peat, GWh/a

Supply-demand balance of renewable resources by municipalities, GWh/a

Based on the available biofuel resources and the present consumption of heat energy one of the possible future scenarios of generation of energy was worked out:

The smaller local boiler-houses are proposed to be converted from fossil fuels to wood chips.

In the settlements with concentrated heat energy consumption the co-generation plansts operating on biogas are proposed and a big co-generation plant operating on wood chips is proposed for Põlva town.

The smaller local boiler-houses are proposed to be converted from fossil fuels to wood chips. In the settlements with concentrated heat energy consumption the co-generation plansts operating on biogas are proposed and a big co-generation plant operating on wood chips is proposed for Põlva town. The calculation indicates that to cover the increased biofuel consumption in addition to present consumption m3s of wood chips are needed and ha of abandoned agricultural lands should be cultivated to produce tons of silage.

The smaller local boiler-houses are proposed to be converted from fossil fuels to wood chips. In the settlements with concentrated heat energy consumption the co-generation plansts operating on biogas are proposed and a big co-generation plant operating on wood chips is proposed for Põlva town. The calculation indicates that to cover the increased biofuel consumption in addition to present consumption m3s of wood chips are needed and ha of abandoned agricultural lands should be cultivated to produce tons of silage. The potential of wood chips from harvesting residues is 88,9 thousand m3s and from traces of electric power lines up to 4,1 thousand m3s. The total yield can be up to 93 thousand m3s which covers the needs of the Põlva co-generation plant.

Location of co-generation plants in Põlva county according to the scenarios

General conclusion: Põlva county can be a self-supply region from the point of view of production of electrical energy